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North and South Korea agreed to restart operations at a jointly run factory park

North and South Korea had agreed to re-open the industrial park on a trial basisNorth Korea shut down the factories in April, pulling out all 53,000 of its workers

North and South Korea have agreed to restart operations at a jointly run factory park that Pyongyang shut down in April during a torrent of threats.

It is the latest sign of easing animosity between the rivals.

South Korea's Unification Ministry has said that North and South Korea had agreed to re-open the industrial park on a trial basis starting 16 September.

North Korean state television confirmed the development in its regular news bulletin.

North Korea shut down the factories, a few miles from the heavily armed border, in April, pulling out all 53,000 of its workers and banning South Korean firms from crossing the border with supplies at the height of nuclear tensions between the two sides.

Earlier this year, North Korea threatened strikes with nuclear and other missiles against the South and the United States after the United Nations imposed toughened sanctions on the North for its third nuclear test in February.

The reopening is seen as meeting the political interest of the democratic South, one of the world's richest countries, and the economic interest of the North.